What does Domain Excellence mean?
I was first introduced to the phrase “Domains of Competency” as a medical term. See the definition I found on Goooogle:
This applies to software development and implementation too, which is why it attracted me so much.
I prefered the term “Domain Excellence” especially when applying to Consultants because… clients pay us a lot to deliver quality systems, and I felt that we needed to be more precise than just using the word “Competence”.
I mean – would you hire a consultant who had Domain Mediocrity? 😁
Someone who is always striving for excellence means they have high standards, and I know what I am getting.
Here is the list of 8 domains required for medical students to show competencies:
- Patient Care (Which I equate to User-centered care)
- Knowledge for Practice
- Practice-Based Learning and Improvement
- Interpersonal and Communication Skills
- Professionalism
- Systems-Based Practice
- Interprofessional Collaboration
- Personal and Professional Development
In our Salesforce world, these map broadly to the elements within my Cog diagram.
What is Domain Excellence in the Salesforce Ecosystem?
In the Salesforce World (ITSW) – It is the hard knowledge about the product(s), their functionalities, the application of those features, how well it plays (integrate) with others, the limitations etc etc.
Since the expansion of the Salesforce as ‘just another CRM’ into a suite of products that can be laid out as an Enterprise solution to large organisations – consultants are now presented with a wide array of specialities.
- Sales Cloud
- Service Cloud
- Marketing Cloud
- Commerce Cloud
- Experience Cloud
- Revenue Cloud
- Integration (Mulesoft)
- etc etc etc
It’s bein known for just being really really good on the product level.
In order to be an outstanding Consultant, you really need to know your stuff. It’s ok _not_ to know stuff, as long as you can pick it up really quickly.
Here, being a quick learner is an absolute advantage. If Salesforce continues to grow at the current rate – you can expect to never run out of things you need to learn.
Which Domain should I be Excellent in?
Whichever one you land on. By doing trailhead, getting your certs, doing projects, and gaining experience – you will figure out which Cloud excites you the most.
Some people develop their expertise and excellence naturally because of the Partner they’re with, especially if the Partner specialises in Financial Services, or in Marketing Cloud, for example.
Feel free to move around so that you get the opportunity to dip your toe 🦶 in different technology platform.
But why?
Why be the best at anything?
Why try?
Other than how awesome it makes you in your eyes, but also in other people’s eyes as well 👀
Most importantly, in my world – our customers pay a lot and they expect high standards.
That’s why. See below the definition of a Consultant. You need domain excellence in order to provide expert advice… otherwise you’re just a cowboy. 🤠